Bottini leads Generals

The Generals' offense took advantage of NYMA's man-to-man defense with backdoor passes.

"Many teams we have been playing have shown us a lot of man-to-man defense this year," said Wooster coach Peter Everett. "When NYMA came out playing us that way, our guys weren't fazed by it."

The Generals started out the game down 6-0 and missed their first 13 shots from the floor. But as soon as they recognized the defense they were up against, they began passing the ball to forwards Bottini and Collin McLoughlin (eight points) on the baselines, who played catch and shoot with the ball.

"(NYMA) was super-aggressive on their perimeter defense," McLoughlin said. "It just allowed us to kill them with backdoor plays."

Dan Colandrea, who scored a game-high 18 points for NYMA was dominant in the early going. He controlled the backboards at both ends and wasn't shy in calling for the ball and making his opportunities pay off. He finished with a game-high 18 points.

"I like being in the middle of the action," Colandrea said. "I don't mind doing the dirty work. After they changed up their play in the paint, we stopped boxing out well, and the defense started slacking off. Honestly, we weren't giving 100 percent."

NYMA's coach, former Western Connecticut basketball star and Hall of Famer Les McMillen, blamed some of his team's reaction on its youth.

"Danny is my only senior starter," McMillen said. "We start him, two sophomores, and have two freshmen who are getting a lot of playing time."